ckcs
Well-known member
We wanted to breed Lionlops. It would have been simple to buy a pair and breed those, but where is the fun in that. Traditionally Minilops are used but we had a Chocolate Holland Lop buck that we just adored. He is the sweetest rabbit we have ever had. So sweet that we originally named him Cocoa and changed it to Mr Loveable. We had a Minilop doe that wasn't proven and decided to throw tradition out the window and use our Holland Lop. For our Lionhead doe we decided on Honeybun. Largely because she was the sweetest of our 3 Lionhead does. She is a double maned vienna marked blue eye fawn. Here is Mr Loveable and Honeybun the grandsire and granddam
They did their thing and soon enough we had a litter of 3 Generation I Holland Lionlop. We had 2 bucks and 1 doe. Perfect !!!!!! We keep a vienna marked black buck with 1 dropped ear and a chocolate doe. We named the buck BEEFCAKE and the doe Keebler. Although they were not full Lionlops yet I fell in love with them both. I love how the blue mane on black and lilac mane on chocolate looks. I also couldn't resist Beefcakes 1 ear down, 1 ear up look. Here is Beefcake and Keebler the Sire and Dam.
After about 4 months Keebler was showing signs of being ready. Her and beefcake both had grown very well. Normally we would have waited until 6 months but have read posts of people that successfully bred ready does before 6 months. We put them together and waited. I was really nervous about this litter. Would she be a good mother? Was it too soon. Gosh if she lost all the babies I'd feel rotten. I've lost first litters before, but I would probably blame myself if she lost these, after all 4 months seems too young even though she was ready. The anticipation was killing me. Our Lionheads are really regular and at 31 days they kindle. Would Keebler kindle at 31 days? Should I put the nestbox in early? Then their was Keeblers moodiness. Ever since she was bred she had become an angry doe. Everyone in the house was afraid of her. She'd scratch, lunge, bite, ram you whenever you put your hand in the cage. Would she be a good mom? What if she ate the babies, I've never had that happen. The scenarios were in my head only time would tell what would happen. I decided to put the nest box in 3 days early. I had given her some cardboard and she moved it to the back right corner of the cage. Must be a sign right? That is the spot to put the nest box. WRONG she moved the nestbox to the middle of the cage. Right smack dab in the middle. I pushed it back one time and she promptly moved it to the middle. Now it was a waiting game.
Saturday morning (Day 31) came and I got up and looked in the cage. Nothing. She hadn't done much with the nesting material (hay and shredded paper) either. We were sure she was pregnant as she was noticeable bigger. Saturday afternoon passed and she was not working on her nest. Crap she isn't going to build a nest I thought. Then around 7 pm she started pulling hair. Oh goodie. She was going to have her babies. I watched her go in the nestbox with some hair. YES !!! she was going to use the nestbox. My wife and I watched a tv show that we recorded and I checked on her again. MOVEMENT woohooo, I could see something moving in the cage. I also could see a dead kit. I looked and there were 4 kits, 1 was alive, 1 was barely moving and the other 2 were dead. One of the dead kits was still in the sac, which was a first for me. I had hope it was still alive but had seen that long body before and knew it wasn't. I freed the kit from the sac and it was dead. We waited another hour and there was a 5th kit and it was long and dead also. She hadn't done much in the way of building a nest I tried to gather the fur to keep the kits warm. 1 was doing fine but the other was rather cold. I took the cold baby out and cupped it on my chest for an hour. I also used some warm towels out of the dryer to help warm the kit up. The kit was moving more so I put it back in the nestbox. I went to bed thinking the one kit would probably not make it. I woke this morning and both kits were fed and the nest looked great. Keebler had been working hard over night to make the nest a home. Both babies are doing well.
I'm guessing the dark one is black but I'm not sure about the pink one. I know the sire if vienna marked but not 100% sure about the dam. If she is a carrier or marked then the pink could be a BEW. I need a double mane doe to move to Generation III so fingers crossed on that.
They did their thing and soon enough we had a litter of 3 Generation I Holland Lionlop. We had 2 bucks and 1 doe. Perfect !!!!!! We keep a vienna marked black buck with 1 dropped ear and a chocolate doe. We named the buck BEEFCAKE and the doe Keebler. Although they were not full Lionlops yet I fell in love with them both. I love how the blue mane on black and lilac mane on chocolate looks. I also couldn't resist Beefcakes 1 ear down, 1 ear up look. Here is Beefcake and Keebler the Sire and Dam.
After about 4 months Keebler was showing signs of being ready. Her and beefcake both had grown very well. Normally we would have waited until 6 months but have read posts of people that successfully bred ready does before 6 months. We put them together and waited. I was really nervous about this litter. Would she be a good mother? Was it too soon. Gosh if she lost all the babies I'd feel rotten. I've lost first litters before, but I would probably blame myself if she lost these, after all 4 months seems too young even though she was ready. The anticipation was killing me. Our Lionheads are really regular and at 31 days they kindle. Would Keebler kindle at 31 days? Should I put the nestbox in early? Then their was Keeblers moodiness. Ever since she was bred she had become an angry doe. Everyone in the house was afraid of her. She'd scratch, lunge, bite, ram you whenever you put your hand in the cage. Would she be a good mom? What if she ate the babies, I've never had that happen. The scenarios were in my head only time would tell what would happen. I decided to put the nest box in 3 days early. I had given her some cardboard and she moved it to the back right corner of the cage. Must be a sign right? That is the spot to put the nest box. WRONG she moved the nestbox to the middle of the cage. Right smack dab in the middle. I pushed it back one time and she promptly moved it to the middle. Now it was a waiting game.
Saturday morning (Day 31) came and I got up and looked in the cage. Nothing. She hadn't done much with the nesting material (hay and shredded paper) either. We were sure she was pregnant as she was noticeable bigger. Saturday afternoon passed and she was not working on her nest. Crap she isn't going to build a nest I thought. Then around 7 pm she started pulling hair. Oh goodie. She was going to have her babies. I watched her go in the nestbox with some hair. YES !!! she was going to use the nestbox. My wife and I watched a tv show that we recorded and I checked on her again. MOVEMENT woohooo, I could see something moving in the cage. I also could see a dead kit. I looked and there were 4 kits, 1 was alive, 1 was barely moving and the other 2 were dead. One of the dead kits was still in the sac, which was a first for me. I had hope it was still alive but had seen that long body before and knew it wasn't. I freed the kit from the sac and it was dead. We waited another hour and there was a 5th kit and it was long and dead also. She hadn't done much in the way of building a nest I tried to gather the fur to keep the kits warm. 1 was doing fine but the other was rather cold. I took the cold baby out and cupped it on my chest for an hour. I also used some warm towels out of the dryer to help warm the kit up. The kit was moving more so I put it back in the nestbox. I went to bed thinking the one kit would probably not make it. I woke this morning and both kits were fed and the nest looked great. Keebler had been working hard over night to make the nest a home. Both babies are doing well.
I'm guessing the dark one is black but I'm not sure about the pink one. I know the sire if vienna marked but not 100% sure about the dam. If she is a carrier or marked then the pink could be a BEW. I need a double mane doe to move to Generation III so fingers crossed on that.
Looks like your project is WELL underway!!! 
